Music and Lyrics

When the film ended my wife looked over at me and said "you can rip this one all you want!" Now, it is her film but in her defense I believe she bought it for $2 on a day after Thanksgiving sale so no real harm done. As far as ripping this film goes, what's the point? Do you need me to talk about how Hugh Grant has become the king of phoning in performances? Maybe you want me to ask the unanswerable question of why does Drew Barrymore always play the talented but lacks confidence girl hiding behind a sheepish smile. Perhaps commentary on the films use of cliched '80's music or it's overly transparent 'satire' regarding modern pop music.
All of that would be nice, but instead, what I think this film needs is advise. The first piece of advise is the obvious request to stop being lazy. If something seems like it is easy to parody it's because it is. I'm 29, I remember Wham! Dressing Hugh Grant like a member of Wham! and having him sing songs that are Gouda Cheese does not equal funny. It's lazy and boring.
That also leads to my next, more serious recommendation. As a teen I remember watching Siskel and Ebert review "That Thing You Do!" and one of them commented on how one key to this film was the fact that the films main song was good enough that an audience could sit through hearing it 12 times in 2 hours and not hate it. Now, if you want to make a movie centered in the world of pop music, please write one good song for your movie. Not everything has to be parody. Perhaps the filmmakers here believe that the song Hugh and Drew wrote was that song. If that is true, find a way to feature that is better than having the Shakira type pop star turn it into some ridiculous modern pop number. With "That Thing You Do!" we get little bits of that era piped in for comic relief through out the film but never does the film take shots at it's own song.
Already I know I have wrote too much about this film. If you like Drew Barrymore and Hugh Grant or if you just like movies that aim at making you feel good than there is nothing wrong with liking this movie. Still, I can't ignore that watching this film I felt like I could predict exactly what would happen next every step of the way. I also found it strange, as my wife pointed out, that this RomCom centered in the world of pop music was strangely devoid of an actually soundtrack. I'm not sure what was going on there but I can assure you I will not lose sleep worrying about it. In fact, part of me hopes this will be the final thoughts I have on this forgettable and regrettable by the numbers bore.